When Lilly and Erie left the clinic and reached the courtyard, flashes of memory surged through her mind. The way Erie had drained that boy—no, that energy—it wasn't human. It was familiar—too familiar.
Her heart pounded. She smiled without meaning to, and her tan skin flushed red. She stopped near the crowd's edge, eyes locked on the unfolding chaos like it was a vision from the past.
She didn't even notice Erie growing tense beside her. She was too deep in her thoughts to stop him from jumping into the fight.
"I need to jump in now!" she heard him yell.
Her eyes snapped to him, just in time to see a bright yellow aura spark to life around his fist.
"Huh?! No, Erie—wait!"
"You must care about that boy, huh?" an onlooker smirked. "You were staring so hard I could feel the heat coming off your body."
Lilly ignored him, eyes still fixed on Erie. She had no time or energy for strangers. As far as she was concerned, people needed to mind their own worlds unless their lives were already entangled.
She watched the yellow energy shoot from Erie's fist, striking the bulky opponent. Gasps rippled through the crowd.
"I don't remember him having an ability… what even was that?" someone muttered nearby.
Lilly rolled her eyes and moved closer to Erie, determined to reach him. Just as she did, she spotted a lightning bolt surging toward him. Instinctively, she raised her palm—and the attack vanished.
"I hope you don't use that attack again, Erie," she muttered to herself, though her voice held a strange calm.
But then she saw it again—Erie's fist glowing, surging.
"NO! ERIE!!"
The blast sent him flying. He hit the ground hard.
She didn't hesitate—she ran.
A teacher burst from the school building, fire exploding from her boots as she launched herself into the air. More staff followed, shutting down the rest of the courtyard fights in seconds. And they were heading straight for Erie.
Lilly didn't think. She grabbed his hand and pulled.
As they ran, she heard the teacher's voice boom across the chaos:
"We have cameras in this schoolyard! Everyone involved will be reviewed. There will be consequences!"
Lilly knew she had to move fast. She had to warn him before it was too late.
They fled through the panicked crowd, weaving between fleeing students. They didn't need to run—but they did. Something about it felt right.
Erie's thoughts spun. The fight. The quest. It wasn't finished. Would the system count it as a failure? A draw? Would the pursuit still be active?
But he didn't have time to dwell on that—not when Lilly dragged him deeper into the campus. Her reaction to him draining that boy's energy was what bothered him.
Would she turn him in? Would she blackmail him? Or worse…?
Eventually, they reached a part of the academy where no students roamed—past the dorms and the common grounds.
They reached the training fields—an open sea of grass stretching for miles. No trees. Just rows of small, neatly aligned buildings.
"Where are we going?" Erie finally asked.
"We need to go where no one will be for the next few weeks," she answered firmly.
Erie's gut twisted. That tone… That look in her eyes…
"She's gonna make me promise something-or worse… what if she wants to fight?" he thought—then paused. "Or maybe she—? No, Erie, don't be dumb…"
They stopped.
Lilly turned sharply and looked him up and down.
"Are you crazy, Erie?" she shouted.
"Crazy? A little… well, yeah, probably. Why?"
Lilly stormed toward him. "Why did you take so much energy from that boy in the library?! You could've killed him!"
She didn't wait for a reply.
"And another thing! Why are you using those moves in public?! Do you want to get targeted? Do you even have a brain?!"
"Answer me!"
Erie was stunned. Words caught in his throat. He slowly raised his hands, backing away like she was a wild beast.
"I… What do you mean, Lilly?"
She crossed her arms, shaking her head. "You're probably the dumbest Sun Warrior I've ever met."
Her response took Erie aback. He laughed nervously, thinking he could hide the truth from her. He didn't know how she knew. He honestly thought he was the only one at that day and age who read Sun Warriors. He didn't even know what he was until the system evolved him into a sunset.
At this moment, Erie didn't even know what a sunset was. Was it a half-human, half-sun warrior? A baby sun warrior? All he knew was he could absorb life energy and sun energy, and then he could use the attack sun slash, well, his version of a sunslah anyway.
"Why would you call me sunwarrior? I don't even know what that is?"
Lilly's eyes darted toward Erie, and she uncrossed her arms. " You have to be kidding me, right?" She walked closer to Erie, looked him up and down, and began walking around him.
"Perfectly tan skin, Hazel Orange eyes, Orange hair. And on top of that, the yellow aura?"
Lilly took a deep breath and stopped in front of him. Erie stared at Lilly, and he couldn't help but notice that she also had tan skin, but her eyes and hair were black. He also started to think she was a sun warrior, but he put it off.
He was thinking enough to use his system analysis skills on her.
Lilly finally spoke up. "Listen, we need to stick together, Erie. From now on, we will be partners until further notice."
Erie was so shocked by her words that he almost forgot to breathe. He looked at her ribbon and then at her watch; she was a rank C with a silver ribbon.
"Do you understand what you are saying to me lately?"
Erie lifted his ribbon and watched. I'm a bronze ribbon, and I'm a TTripleF-ranked student. I'm at the complete bottom.
"Enough, Erie!"
Lilly had to take a deep breath to calm her nerves. "It's hard enough as it is; you may not understand it now, but once you evolve again, you'll know it later. You're still a baby, so I don't expect you to pick up on energy. Soon, you will need to take life energy from anybody, but for now, you must."